Chart Makes the Grade in Ontario Colleen
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Photo: Michael Burns
Chart wins the Ontario Colleen Stakes at Woodbine
With a determined stretch run, Chart prevailed in a photo finish to take the CA$130,000 (US$99,243) Ontario Colleen Stakes (G3T) for 3-year-old fillies Aug. 29 at Woodbine.
One of four Mark Casse trainees in the field of six, Chart broke sharply from the gate for jockey Justin Stein and settled into second behind Casse-trained Selene Stakes (G3) winner Two Sixty, who sped out front and clocked an opening quarter in :23.55 and half-mile in :46.93.
Heading into the turn in the one-mile turf test, Chart advanced outside of the pacesetter with the Alex Patykewich-trained Saratoga Vision moving three wide and Diamond Sparkles, another Casse contender, poised to go widest of all through three-quarters in 1:10.38.
Down the stretch into a headwind, Chart battled on gamely against Two Sixty with even-money favorite Avie's Samurai emerging at the rail.
Digging in, the determined Chart prevailed in a blanket finish, getting the nod in 1:35.24 over Avie's Samurai. Diamond Sparkles finished another head back on the outside in third, with Two Sixty a half-length back between foes. Saratoga Vision finished less than a length behind in fifth, and Fly So Pretty rounded out the order of finish. Morning-line favorite Walk In Marrakesh was scratched.
"She broke sharp and I didn't have to ask her to leave there," Stein said. "She settled into stride right away and just galloped around there until it was really time to start running.
"I got to sit and wait for a while. I was pretty comfy sitting up to the quarter pole, and when I asked her to run, she really kicked. I just could feel the try that she had inside. She was digging in and giving me everything that she had. Running into that headwind, I don't know how she did it, but she found more to get the job done."
The lightly raced daughter of Lea now has three wins and a second from six starts for owner D. J. Stable. Sent postward as the 9-2 second choice, she returned $11.20 to win.
Chart was bred in Kentucky by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider out of the War Front mare Gauge and was a $120,000 purchase by her current connections from Harris Training Center's consignment to the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.